The power to lift four times his bodyweight on his shoulders will see Turriff strongman Gavin Bruce make his World’s Strongest Man debut later this year.
Aberdeenshire athlete Gavin, 31, competes in strongman’s under-105kg weight category, and has, in 2024, claimed his second Scottish title, as well as placing third in the same class at Britain’s Strongest Man.
This has earned him the chance to compete in the division at both the Strongman European Championships – at the York Barbican next month – and the U105kg World’s Strongest Man, scheduled for the United States in December.
Gavin – who also recently finished eighth in the open category at Scotland’s Ultimate Strongest Man, despite the competition featuring much larger and heavier rivals – is now excited to test himself against both Europe and the planet’s best under-105kg class strongmen.
He said: “It’s my first time at both, so I’ll be going to do my best, but I’ll be getting experience as well.
“Europeans is a two-day competition, and worlds is a three-day – I’ve never done that length of competition before, so it will be a new process to me learning those different timings and warming up for events.”
‘My best events are moving events – I’ve done a 210-kilo Atlas stone, and a 420-kilo yoke’
The weights at both the European and world events are set to be a step up from what Gavin has been used to in domestic competitions.
For example, the Turriff titan revealed he and his fellow U105s will be expected to deadlift a 300kg axle barbell for as many repetitions as possible at the European event – the same weight used by bigger, open category athletes for April’s Scotland’s Strongest Man qualifier.
Gavin’s lifting numbers are impressive, however – not least his ability to carry an incredibly heavy yoke (a frame, loaded with weight, which goes across the shoulders and which athletes are required to walk with) or tackle the famed Atlas stones.
He said: “My best events are moving events – like a yoke carry, farmer’s walk, sandbag runs, a loading medley or Atlas stones.
“I’ve done a 210-kilo single for atlas stones, and I’ve done a 200-kilo stone as part of a run – I did that this year in the Scottish qualifier… It was 120(kg), 140, 160, 180, 200. Five stones.
“The heaviest yoke I’ve done is 420 kilos for 15 metres.”
Gavin added: “My static strength is improving, but it’s lower than some other people.
“I’m getting better. I hit a personal best of 340kg for deadlift at Britains. That was a highlight, as I hadn’t PB’d for a while, and it was by 40 kilos – it was quite a boost of confidence to know I could do that.
“For log press, I’ve done 142 kilos, and for axle press, I’ve done 135 kilos for four (reps) at Britains.
“I’ve done a 260kg squat for four in competition.”
Coached by World’s Strongest Man icon ‘Big Loz’
Although he has not been to Europe’s or World’s Strongest Man before, Gavin will be able to tap into the “invaluable” and “second to none” experience of his strength coach of four years – Laurence “Big Loz” Shahlaei.
Englishman Shahlaei was a regular in the televised open-category World’s Strongest Man for several years, finishing fourth in 2011, as well as winning the European title in 2016.
How much training – and eating – is required for elite strongman?
Gavin’s rise to the elite ranks of strongman is the culmination of eight years of hard graft in the gym – though he says a combination of factors meant he was already “naturally strong”.
The six-foot-tall tyre-fitter – who placed third in a competition just four weeks after he started training in the gym in 2017 – said: “I’ve always done manual work since I left school, which I think has helped me maintain natural strength
“I’ve always been naturally strong.
“I’d done sports before – I did judo competitively for a long time when I was a kid, running when I was in school, and when I was in Boys’ Brigade we did quite a lot of different sports.”
Gavin’s weight usually sit around 110kg outside of competition, and he does not eat the kind of extreme daily calories associated with open-category strongmen.
He said: “I eat about 4,000 calories a day, give or take – less on non-training days.
“I get a plan from my nutritionist, and I basically get told what to eat, which is a lot simpler for me.
“Through the week, I train at Energie Fitness in Inverurie, and at weekends, I’ve got my own place out in Fyvie, where I train specifically for the events I’ve got in Strongman.
“I train four times a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and a Saturday – Monday is leg day, Tuesday is pressing, Thursday is deadlift and back, and Saturday is event day, so skill-based.”
Gavin is just the latest elite strongman to emerge from the north of Scotland, with Invergordon’s Tom Stoltman now the three-time reigning World’s Strongest Man champion (in the open division).
If you are interested in supporting Gavin with sponsorship, you can contact him by email at gav3192@gmail.com
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